A New Beginning
by antra
Summary: Prompt AU of the time-travel induced canon mashup sort. Season 7 Dean lands back in time in his own 16 year old body. Timeline: Somewhere between 7.12 Time after Time and 7.13 The Slice Girls/Pre-Series


_Timeline: Somewhere between 7.12 Time after Time and 7.13 The Slice Girls/Pre-Series_

_Written for spn_summergen_  
_Beta: lolaann1_  
_Recipient: claudiapriscus_

_Supernatural is the brainchild of Eric Kripke. No money is made with this_

* * *

Dean felt that something was strange and looked around to see a motel room, blander than the ones he normally chose.

Cream walls and carpet, light brown furniture, everything a bit shabby but nothing of the original and unique atmosphere he preferred. This could have been a chain motel room for all he saw, boring from the generic choice in furniture to the total lack of decor.

Where was he?

His last memory had been of Sam and him squatting in an abandoned house so the Leviathans couldn't find them.

"Sam?"

No answer. Dean was alone.

He realized that something was wrong with his body as well, he himself felt different.

He looked down to see a body that was slighter and smaller than what he was used to and his thoughts went back to Gary, the teenager who had switched bodies with Sam. Had something like that happened to him? Why? How? He hadn't even been in the area of witches after meeting the Starks in Prosperity, Indiana.

The dash to the mirror in the bathroom made it clear that this wasn't a body swap. Dean was in his own body, but it was the one of years before. He was a teenager again. From what he saw his body was perhaps 16 and in full blown twinky phase: Lean body, blonde hair, big eyes and these ridiculously long lashes he had always hated. He had forgotten how bad it had been and how happy he was when he started looking older. When he stopped looking like one of the pretty guys he would have hated in High School on principle.

His whole face scrunched in disgust at the shameful reminder of his past.

"Damn."

An age reduction? That didn't explain the unfamiliar surroundings or the fact that Sam was missing.

"Look at you, all young again," said a familiar voice from behind him. A voice Dean hadn't heard in a while and hadn't expected to hear as well.

Dean turned around.

"You're dead."

"The reports of my death, etcetera, etcetera… As my older brother apparently forgot, I was on earth for a _very_ long time. I learned a lot as a pagan.I have to admit, faking my own death so that _Lucifer_ believed it was my biggest trick."

The archangel grinned around his candy. "I got this very interesting prayer that warned me. That was, I don't know, 1944?"

Dean didn't say anything to that. Yes, he had warned Gabriel during his last trip to the past. He hadn't known that it would be heard, but after everything that had happened he felt he should at least try it.

"So, I faked my death," Gabriel continued. "_Again._ I kept out of the way of my brothers and waited for whatever Dad would do. But even a civil war in heaven didn't bring him back. He truly doesn't care. I just watched what happened and what my siblings did. I'm through with all this."

Gabriel shrugged and fished a candy out of his pocket. Once his sugar intake was secured he used his hands to dismiss what he saw in the future as unimportant. "If it really doesn't matter than I can do whatever I want. No apocalypse, no civil war. I like earth. I like knowing that my siblings are alive and well. So, I pushed the great Reset Button. Bye bye Leviathans, hello 1995."

Dean made a gesture to himself. "Look at me! This is more than just a reset. This is years before. And I remember. Why do I remember?"

Gabriel regarded him quietly for a moment. "You remember because I transferred your older mind and soul into your younger body. I know you will do everything you can so that this timeline will be different."

The angel held out something and Dean took it. He saw it was Ruby's knife and a paper with a warding sigil the hunter didn't know.

"It doesn't make sense if I let you run around unprotected while every supernatural thing that can read minds or memories picks the future out of your skull."

Dean clutched the sigil harder after hearing that. A protection for the mind? This was priceless not only for him, but for the whole hunter community. He would spread its use and along with the symbol warding against demons. A part of him already planned his next tattoos.

* * *

John wondered what his older son wanted. Sam was in school and Dean had just told him that there were things they had to talk about. Coming from Dean this was unexpected.

He knew Sam had tried to convince his brother to talk to him on his behalf on numerous occasions, but Dean just did it when he considered something really important and he never asked for anything regarding himself.

So, it had to be about Sam, but what could be the reason?"

* * *

Dean observed his father as the older man sat down. He had thought long and hard about what he should do to change the future. The first few days of the reset he hard a time not just reacting strange. His first impulse on seeing his father again had been getting a hug and crying.

He swallowed it down and thought about the best way to reach his goals.

It took a while, but finally he had a plan. Now he just needed to implement it. He needed to change Sam's future.

One of the most useful things about both demons and angels was their lack of communication skills. The demons didn't trust each other enough and the angels had kept everybody as uninformed as possible so that the humans couldn't use their free will.

So, killing Azazel before he started his Celebrity Deathmatch would hopefully end the demon side of the calculation. Even Lillith had just been aware of Sam after he had been the last one standing. Everything else would change after that.

Dean would have to see how the angels would react, if they even reacted.

If the best for Sam meant not hunting than he would do this. He would need to force his father to cooperate, but John Winchester would do what was necessary. He'd have to, because Dean wouldn't leave him a choice.

"Sam needs to stay in one place." Dean said decidedly.

His father stared at him as if he was insane. "What are you talking about?"

Dean sighed. "I'm talking about Sam. He isn't like me. You can't just drag him all over the country and expect him to adjust. He needs a home."

He regarded his father for a moment. "There are three possibilities. One, Sam and I live with Pastor Jim or Bobby. I know both of them offered before. The houses are secured and warded, keeping up the training will be easy. You'll know where we are and we won't have to be careful anymore because of CPS. Also, I wouldn't have to wonder how to get the money to feed Sammy when you're gone for freaking ever."

Dean knew this was unfair. He had never before told his father about the food situation. But if it helped him to get his stubborn father to see reason, _unfair_ didn't exist.

"Two," he continued, "I become an emancipated minor and work regular hours. If you sign that you're okay with it, it's pretty easy. Once that's done, you share custody of Sam with me. Again, CPS is no problem anymore, we ward the house, do the training and you have a home base."

Dean paused. His face went blank, carefully not showing what he thought.

"Option Three, and the one option I don't even want to talk about: you decide against both options and everything stays the way it is. I'll take Sam, do what I consider best for him and you don't have to be involved in our lives anymore."

* * *

John stared at Dean. If there was one thing he never expected to hear from his oldest son it was that. He didn't want to have his children out of his sight, but he also knew Dean wouldn't have listed option three if he wasn't willing to go through with it. And John knew that given a choice between his father and his brother, Sam would always choose Dean.

A part of him broke when hearing about the money for food. Honestly, he never even thought about it. Yes, Sammy was always hungry when he was with them, but he never said that he didn't get enough to eat. It seemed to be his age. And Dean never complained, even if he came back weeks after he had planned. Was he that bad of a father?

The mossy green eyes of his oldest reminded him of old friends, of veterans. Not of a 16 year old teenager. He had forced his son into a position where he had to grow up fast and take responsibility for his brother. Now he had to live with the couldn't live with option three. Option Two, yes, it wouldn't be a problem for Dean to become emancipated. He fit all the needed criteria. And even if John said no, considering the reasons the police wanted to talk to him and the fact that they'd been fleeing CPS for years, any judge would declare him unfit for parenting.

Dean always adjusted, but that wasn't fair to him. The boy never asked anything for himself, always put his brother first, and if there was a way to make it a bit easier for him they had to choose that.

So, it came down to a simple question: Jim or Bobby?

Yes, both of them had offered before to take the boys and only not forced him because they knew how fast he could be away. Both places would be good choices for a secure home base for the children.

* * *

"Jim or Bobby?" his dad asked.

Dean didn't let out a relieved sigh that John was willing to go with number one.

After being back in time he was happy that everybody was still alive and would do everything he could to make sure they stayed that way. Still, if the choice of where to live came down to him, he would go for Bobby. In a lot of ways, the man had been a better father to him than John Winchester. Not that he would say that. No reason to be unnecessarily cruel to Dad. He had to sell this to him in a way that made it clear to Dad that he wasn't choosing some other parental unit over him. Even if in a way, he was.

Grown-up Dean knew that some people just weren't capable of being single parents. It didn't mean that John didn't love them or hadn't tried, he just couldn't. Perhaps when he got over his obsession with Azazel, things would be different. Dean could even imagine John settling down after this particular demon was dead. Perhaps with Adam and Kate in Windom, Minnesota.

Fact was, Sam needed an environment where he was allowed to be himself. If that meant normality, soccer and later Ivy League University, then he would get that. He would have a home and he would know that he was always welcome to come back. In the meantime, Dean would help as much with the hunting as he could and would go back full time once Sam didn't need him anymore.

He schooled his face carefully as if he was embarrassed about an idea, looking exactly the 16 years of his current biological age. "Pastor Jim is, well, a pastor..."

John laughed lightly. "Okay, Dean, I understand. We'll talk with Bobby:"

It took all of his self-restraint not to grin at that.

* * *

Sammy was playing with Bobby's dog. Dean loved watching him like this, when he was still so innocent. This time it would be better, he would make sure of it.  
Things were going along smoothly so far. John and Bobby were in the house going over everything. Dean would look around for a job to supplement the household income once they were settled. Singer Salvage may be a normal job, but Bobby wasn't exactly swimming in money and Sam ate absurd amounts of food nowadays.

"How long will we stay here this time, Dean?" came Sammy's soft soprano from his right.

"At least 'till after you're through with High School."

Sammy's eyes grew big. The idea of staying at one place for so long was totally novel to him.

"Seriously? High School?"

Sam laughed happily and ran to their father to thank him for letting them stay.

Dean smiled at Sam's reaction and watched the boy run to Dad. He looked up to see the contemplative look on Bobby's face as he watched him.

Yeah, this timeline would be very different.


End file.
